Temple as Life-giving Symbol

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Temples as Life-giving Symbol

As a faith community, we have been given ample gifts, scriptural resources, sacraments, spiritual insights, and symbols that orient our lives toward Christ so that we may deepen our faith relationship. Among these gifts are the temples in Kirtland [Ohio, USA] and Independence [Missouri, USA]. Both temples, through their breathtaking architecture, call us to reverence and awe in the face of beauty that awakens our souls to the need to worship God as the creator and sustainer of all that is. We simply cannot be self-absorbed and self-important when we are in the temples.

Both temples—in Kirtland and Independence—remind us that, above all else, Jesus Christ seeks to restore us to life as we were created to experience it; life as God intends it to be; life characterized by love, generosity, relationships of mutuality, sharing, and peacefulness.

The temples, places of beauty, worship, education, and church guidance, are compasses and lighthouses for our faith journey. They serve as constant reminders that we are called to live counter to the cultures of isolation, individualism, greediness, and suspicion that surround us. They constantly point beyond themselves to steer us to our true calling to become God’s spiritual house, built on the witness and sacrifice of Jesus Christ—a household that unites, heals, restores, and frees people through community to express their best selves no matter who they are…a household in which Jesus would truly feel at home! [Excerpted from the Sermon shared by Steve Veazey June 10, 2007 during a worship service celebrating the dedication of the Kirtland Temple Visitor and Spiritual Formation Center.]

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God; that your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord…

—Doctrine and Covenants 85:36b–c

The temple shall be dedicated to the pursuit of peace. It shall be for reconciliation and for healing of the spirit. It shall also be for a strengthening of faith and preparation for witness. By its ministries an attitude of wholeness of body, mind, and spirit as a desirable end toward which to strive will be fostered. It shall be the means for providing leadership education for priesthood and member. And, it shall be a place in which the es-

sential meaning of the Restoration as healing and redeeming agent is given new life and understanding, inspired by the life and witness of the Redeemer of the world.

—Doctrine and Covenants 156:5

Let [the Temple] stand as a towering symbol of a people who knew injustice and strife on the frontier and who now seek the peace of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

—Doctrine and Covenants 161:2b

Become a people of the Temple—those who see violence but proclaim peace, who feel conflict yet extend the hand of reconciliation, who encounter broken spirits and find pathways for healing.

—Doctrine and Covenants 161:2a

…the Temple calls the entire church to become a sanctuary of Christ’s peace, where people from all nations, ethnicities, and life circumstances can be gathered into a spiritual home without dividing walls, as a fulfillment of the vision for which Jesus Christ sacrificed his life.

Temples, places of beauty, worship, education, and church guidance, are compasses and lighthouses for our faith journey.

—Doctrine and Covenants 163:8c

In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

—Ephesians 2:21–22 NRSV

The spiraling, Christ-centered symbolism of the Temple and its defined purposes reveal the essence of God’s presence with us. These images and concepts serve to focus the church on its true identity, message, and mission. As we become a people of the Temple, we will be led to embrace what “matters most” in the life of the church. In fact, without the ongoing influence of the Temple, we would not be as focused as we are on:

• The need to approach the Divine in awe and wonder in an increasingly skeptical age. • God’s vision of peace for creation. • The interconnectedness of the physical and spiritual dimensions of the universe. • Peace, reconciliation, and healing of the spirit as the essence of Jesus Christ’s ministry. • Wholeness of body, mind, and spirit as a desirable condition for all. • The essential meaning of the restoration as healing and redeeming agent. • The disciple’s lifelong inner and outer journey as depicted by the Temple’s symbolism. • The church’s call to “pursue peace” and be “a sanctuary of Christ’s peace” throughout the world. • The call to engage in ecumenical and interfaith relationships because the Temple is a house of prayer for all faiths.

The Temple Strategy Team has defined the focus of the Temple as:

Restoring God’s Shalom: Individual and Community Journey of Transformation

The idea and language of shalom best capture a holistic and scripturally sound basis for ministries consistent with the symbol and stated purposes of the Temple. The Christian journey is a pilgrimage toward shalom; a movement toward wholeness revealed

to us in the way of Christ. Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection take us into the intimate center of God and impel us outward into mission; to embody wholeness and grace in a suffering world.

Jesus is “the Way.” Jesus is the Christian journey itself, a pilgrimage that culminates in the wayfarer’s arrival in God. The Temple symbolizes God’s summons to pilgrimage. The journey matters. We are a people on a pilgrimage into God and out into God’s world. That is the daily rhythm of discipleship into which we are invited.

As we journey, we covenant to become a “dwelling place for God” (Ephesians 2:22). We seek to become personally “a sanctuary of Christ’s peace” for the sake of family, friends, congregation, community, denomination, the world, and God’s reign.

We uphold the purpose of restoring God’s shalom by integrating the disciplines of worship, formation, and praxis to bring about transformation.

Worship

For you shall…be led back in peace… —Isaiah 55:12

Let the Temple continue to come to life as a sacred center of worship, education, community building, and discipleship preparation for all ages.

—Doctrine and Covenants 163:8b

…guide our feet into the way of peace. —Luke 1:79

God is calling for a prophetic community to emerge, drawn from the nations of the world, that is characterized by uncommon devotion to the compassion and peace of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

—Doctrine and Covenants 163:11a

Praxis

(A recurring process of transformative action and reflection.)

Seek peace and pursue it.

—Psalm 34:14

Transformative encounters with the Eternal Creator and Reconciler await those who follow its [the Temple’s] spiritual pathways of healing, reconciliation, peace, strengthening of faith, and knowledge.

—Doctrine and Covenants 163:8a

REFLECTION

• If you have visited the Temple in

Independence or Kirtland, how has your experience with the

Temple affected your response to God’s call in your life? If you have not visited a Temple, what impact has reading about them, and hearing stories about those who have visited them, had on your life? • What does the Temple symbolize for you? How is this connected to your discipleship? • Section 163:8c states that “the

Temple calls the entire church to become a sanctuary of

Christ’s peace.” Consider how you and your congregation function as a sanctuary of

Christ’s peace. What is required of you as a disciple to become a living sanctuary of peace?